For better or worse, terrorism will always be with us. There's plenty of policy discussion to be had about exactly how to deal with that, in general and in the wake of bid Laden's death, but apart from that: we, the American people, deserve something real, immediate, and practical. The color-coded security status is already headed for the Smithsonian, but what else from the bin Laden era could we get rid of? I mean little, annoying, things, that we can take this occasion to eliminate; I'm not talking about major policy changes, for better or for worse.
My preference? Runner up would be the words "homeland security," beginning with changing the horrid name of the misbegotten department (although actually dismantling the department at this point would probably be as big a mistake as constructing it in the first place). But no question -- what I'd really like is for the president to ask Bud Selig to get rid of that awful "God Bless America" seventh inning stretch. Please.
Again, I'm not looking for major policy efforts in this thread, just annoying junk that we can jettison. What do you suggest?
Monday, May 2, 2011
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I'd like to leave my shoes on at the airport, and be able to take a can of shaving cream onto an airplane.
ReplyDeleteThe Patriot Act.
ReplyDeleteI'd really like is for the president to ask Bud Selig to get rid of that awful "God Bless America" seventh inning stretch.
ReplyDeleteMoved and seconded.
Hell, at this point I'd settle with having "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" from Cabaret as its replacement.
My four-month-old niece needing a passport to go to Canada. I must have gone a dozen times as a kid with just a photocopy of my birth certificate.
ReplyDelete@theclassicist
ReplyDeleteLong form or short form???
Judging presidential candidates based on whether or not they wear flag pins.
ReplyDeleteIf I never hear Len Greenwood's "God Bless The U.S.A" again, it will be too soon.
ReplyDeleteThe whole concept of 'American Exceptionalism' as an excuse for foreign policy.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree about the God Bless America in the 7th inning stretch. But if we can't get rid of it, I propose replacing it with the Team America theme from the movie Team America: World Police.
ReplyDeletePerhaps this counts as a policy shift, but I think its time to put to rest the vague paranoia in the American public arising from the 1% doctrine.
ReplyDeleteThey say Bin Laden may have been hiding in that compound for upward of 5 years; he was finally smoked out with information provided by the most infamous terrorist in captivity (KSM), a man whose fingerprints are all over the three most notorious plots of the last 20 years (WTC '93, Bojinka and 9/11).
This is probably a good time to put to rest the madness that caused us to treat any illiterate Afghan farmer who looked at us funny as a potential superterrorist and treating them as such. People seem to see the ridiculousness of that approach now. I certainly hope so.
give jurisdictions money for what they need. stop pretending they need bulletproof dobermans.
ReplyDeleteBeen a while since I followed baseball, so it's a semi-eye opener to read that MLB is still doing the GBA thing during the 7th inning stretch. I'd thought that lasted only a short while after 9-11. So that makes, what, two formal displays of American Patriotism per game, including the Star Spangled Banner?
ReplyDeleteFigures though. Bud Selig I perceive to be a mainstream GOPer, and baseball itself in recent years -- fewer blacks playing or attending games, the ultraconservative FOx network handling the playoffs and WS -- has taken on a conservative Republican flavor more than other major US sports.
Fat chance though of mostly risk-averse Obama taking a major political risk and stepping in with Selig to put a stop to it.
Not even in a 2d term after he's safely re-elected and riding high in the polls, if that happens.
He does stand a better chance of success in getting rid of the awful, Third Reich-sounding term "Homeland Security". For the To Do list in his 2d term, and it's doable.